On the Street Where You Live…Part 7

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

After a year living on the economy in Wiesbaden, West Germany, we were able to move into a furnished government apartment.  We were in the American housing called Auckum, and we lived on Westfalen Strasse.  We were in a six-apartment stairwell, and  there were two stairwells in our building, so 12 units.  We lived on the third floor, in the outer apartment, rather than the inner apartment.  We lived there the remaining two years of our commitment.

Our apartment building.  Our unit was the top left in this picture.

1970 – Springtime – Karen in the back yard playground.  Our apartment is top right

It was a two bedroom apartment, one bathroom.  The kitchen was nice and large with a doorway to the dining room.  The wall of the dining room was completely windows. A large picture window with two side windows that opened.  We opened them frequently during the spring, summer and fall.  They were tall windows, and had a marble ledge or window sill, with heaters underneath.  The window sill was near the floor enough that, when Karen was old enough, she would enjoy sitting on it and looking outside.

The living room was fairly large, as well.  We had a couch and a couple of chairs.

1969 – My mother came to visit.  See the couch provided

The brown chair was provided, while the rocking chair Fred purchased.

Fred had purchased a rocking chair for me to nurse Karen, when we lived on the economy, and that was one of our chairs in the living room.  We still have that chair.  There was a wooden cabinet in the living room that held our stereo equipment. We had no TV those years we were in Wiesbaden.  Didn’t really need it, either.

There was a balcony off the living room, that we enjoyed quite a bit.  Karen loved to go out there and look around and play.

Karen on the balcony.

There was a divider between the living room and the dining room.  One side held three bookcase shelves, and the other side held storage for large dining equipment.

Karen is two years old here – in front of the divider.

There was also a sideboard in the dining room.  The dining room also held a large table with six chairs.

The kitchen was good sized, with all the necessary equipment.  Unfortunately, the government only gave us a non-frost-free refrigerator, and I had to defrost that thing quite often.  Not fun!  Lots of cabinet space, and a window over the sink.

The bathroom was long, with a fairly long, large tub (with shower), the requisite sink and toilet.  Karen enjoyed time in the tub while I cleaned the sink and toilet.  The floor was terrazzo – easy to clean.

We had Karen’s crib in the second bedroom.  There was also a bed in there.  As it happened, by that time I was playing the piano for the church, and needed a piano to practice on.  We rented a piano from a piano store in town, and they placed it in her bedroom.  I’m not exactly sure when I practiced, but she was such a sound sleeper, that I could have done it during her naps.

There was a fire in the attic of one of the buildings across the way from us while we were there.  I believe it was contained to the attic, but perhaps took some of the top floor apartments.

Karen on our balcony, with the results of the fire across the street.

In our bedroom was the bed (naturally), but also a dressing table, complete with mirror set in front of a window.  I would frequently take down the mirror and set my sewing machine up there to work. We had a full-length mirror behind the bedroom door, so that worked well.  We had wardrobes in the bedrooms for our clothing.

The washers and dryers were down in the basement.  That wasn’t too bad until I had to lug the diaper pail down four flights of stairs! 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: Military Life